Hospital waiting lists and the credibility gap

It is no coincidence that Prime Minister Robert Abela mentioned hospital waiting lists and “surgeries for the elderly” as priority areas for 2025 during his end-of-year speech. 

The Prime Minister knows that these concerns about the public healthcare system are widespread and potentially electorally harmful. 

The very specific mention of ‘surgeries for the elderly’ is telling because this is a cohort where a year’s wait, let alone more, could literally lead to eternity. 

Abela wanted to convey the message that the government will be dedicating more energy and resources to tackle these problems in the new year. He was reiterating the commitment made during the budget. 

The financial estimates presented last October by the finance minister show an allocation of €14 million in the budget to significantly reduce waiting lists for specific surgeries. It is estimated that an increase of over 5,000 operations will take place through cooperation with the private sector. 

It is important that the political commitment to reduce waiting lists is backed up by a financial commitment since it shows government is serious about tackling this quality-of-life issue. 

But people will be forgiven if they reserve judgement on this commitment for the time being. Patients waiting for an appointment; patients whose surgery is cancelled at the last minute; patients who have been for ages on the waiting list for a knee or hip replacement; will inevitably compare their personal poorly predicament with the lavish lifestyle of those who benefitted in a corrupt way from the Vitals hospitals deal. 

These patients will undoubtedly ask whether the millions of euros spent on the deal that delivered no tangible public benefits as promised, could have been better spent to improve existing facilities and expand them to cater for a bigger population. 

Corruption stories are not something people generally care about as they go on with their daily lives – people have much more important personal things to worry about. But when a basic need like healthcare fails to be met, corruption starts bothering them and comparisons will start being drawn. This is where the Labour government has a credibility gap. 

The government has a lot to atone for but unfortunately, it is so caught up in its own internal troubles that it cannot even understand why news that Justyne Caruana was made a tax consultant for the finance ministry suddenly becomes scandalous. 

When your elderly mother has been on a waiting list for months on end and no one seems to care, Caruana’s €78,000 income from the consultancy contract – which in ordinary circumstances should not be such a big deal if she is qualified for the job – becomes a weapon to lampoon the government with. 

For how can a normal, sane government justify that after being kicked out of Cabinet because of unethical conduct, Caruana is now rewarded with a consultancy contract at the same time the Prime Minister is trying to lure her back into politics? 

And while these games are being played with public funds, your brother’s surgery has been postponed again and MCAST lecturers are still fighting for a new collective agreement. 

The quality of public healthcare in Malta is good. It is also free but only if the system is efficient enough. It is useless having free healthcare if patients are unwittingly forced to seek medical treatment in private facilities because of lengthy waiting lists. 

The healthcare system needs to be prioritised. The Health Ministry has issued a tender for the expansion of the emergency department at Mater Dei and the construction of an acute psychiatric facility above it. It is also moving ahead with plans for a new Gozo hospital. 

These investments could have happened quite some time ago had the corrupt Vitals deal not usurped government’s focus and cash. 

But more has to be done for distraught and angry patients to start feeling the difference in their lives. These will not be easy waters to navigate for a government that is still burdened by the sins of its past when it tied improvement in public healthcare to a corrupt deal. 

Nonetheless, the political and financial commitment to tackle waiting lists and surgeries has been made and we expect the government to fulfil its pledge. People’s quality of life is at stake.